The present invention relates to a fire extinguishing apparatus to penetrate barriers and more particularly to a nozzle which can be manipulated manually to apply a force to a penetrating head for penetrating a barrier such as the skin of an aircraft or spacecraft for dispensing a fire extinguishing agent therein.
Bayonet type nozzles for use for fire extinguishing equipment have been utilized in the past and in one particular device the nozzle has a pointed head which is manually forced through the skin or barrier of the structure that it is to penetrate. Oftentimes the strength of the barrier is sufficient to prevent the manually forcing of the penetrating nozzle therethrough. In one attempt to overcome this problem, explosively operated piercing applicators have been utilized. This type of applicator is not practical for use in a possibly explosive atmosphere such as would often be encountered in a fire of an aircraft or spacecraft.
Sledge hammer operated penetrating fire extinguishing nozzles have been proposed and one such device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,548,621. In this particular device a sledge hammer is used for driving the nozzle into the object. This is not practical in many applications in that it requires one person to hold the penetrating nozzle while another swings the sledge hammer.
Other types of penetrating fire extinguishers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,756,829, 2,967,570 and 2,235,915.